Salukifan

Numerous people on here have said that they do this. I should poll it - I've never noticed. If I lived in a place where it was 40 below outside during winter or bears were an issue, I'd consider it.

You "often" see people say their dogs are crated all day while they are at work? You must move in very different circles to me because I don't know of anyone who does this and quite frankly the overwhelming majority of dogs are kept in backyards by owners who don't own crates. If you wondered why you copped some flack, then consider for a moment the tone of your opening post. Basically you've said "my dogs go where ever they like when ever they like and this is the correct way to keep a dog". Well, my dogs don't go where ever they like. Like the vast majority of Australians I'm an urban dweller and my dogs are confined to a house and yard. They are further confined by a lead on most days when I walk them. I also work. So the conclusion I must draw is that you think my dogs are miserable. And you wonder why folk weren't impressed. Whippets that roam are Whippets that die... often under a car. I'll keep my dogs "miserable" thanks because it keeps them alive.

Fat dogs are a lot less demanding of exercise. Convenient for a lot of people.

Rubbish. It simply is NOT in the best interests of the animal from a growth and health perspective. Responsible buyers WILL overwhelmingly desex their pets and the dogs benefit from their hormones as they grow. Giant breeds desexed at 6 weeks? I shudder at the thought. You said it yourself, RESPONSIBLE BUYERS will desex, yes, but unfortunately we live in a society where the vast majority are not responsible. I And the "vast majority" are not sold pups by responsible breeders who vet buyers. Perhaps you might like to do a poll but most breeders I know have NOT had issues with pups not being desexed when the time came. If the issue is the dogs' capacity to breed then a tubal ligation or a vasectomy will produce that result. No need to take the rest and frankly the dogs' NEED hormones to develop normally. You've just been provided with two good examples of why. Desex everything.. a great result, except for the dogs themselves and for the future of dogs as pets. I do not consider a dog that's incontinent at 12 months of age to be an acceptable outcome of juvenile desexing. I've given the alternative and it can be done.

By whom? I didn't think there was any research that supported this notion. Personally I think it has more to do with most people desexing their dogs as they reach their adult height. Food needs to be scaled back then and frankly a lot of owners never do.

Rubbish. It simply is NOT in the best interests of the animal from a growth and health perspective. Responsible buyers WILL overwhelmingly desex their pets and the dogs benefit from their hormones as they grow. Giant breeds desexed at 6 weeks? I shudder at the thought.

Actually sometimes it just .... does. :)

Has she been prog tested? Shout the dog's owner a motel room and meet in Albury??? Or drive the bitch to Sydney and fly her from there??

Jack Tar I have one more possibility to add: liver shunt. I hope it isn't

Maybe some of the questions suggested in this thread might help.

Or maybe they simply don't want their pups used to breed in opposition to them.

Absolutely. Retained canines aren't uncommon in small dogs and are generally removed to assist the adult teeth into position. If they are still present at 12 months of age, they won't be falling out. Have them removed. Eta. If all you can see is two little teeth that probably means that the retained teeth have blocked the descent of the adult canines.

What do you think "no" means to your pup? Say it often enough and its just white noise. I suggest you show him what you want him to do and reward him when he does it , rather than telling him what not to do. At 19 weeks, your pup will be too old for any "puppy school". I suggest you head straight for obedience training and keep doing it until he's got through adolescence. Teenage dogs are far more of a handful than baby puppies.

To accuse those becoming personal in their responses of comprehension problems would be unkind. But apparently it's OK to call longer term DOLers names. Same old, same old.

PRA Hipscores. Hope your aunty is ready for the fact that 70% of these crosses shed, many are a nightmare to groom and many are far larger and more energetic than their owners are expecting.

Precious eh? Perhaps you'd like to point out the bit where I've whined about repeated posts from newbs asking for advice or ones about dog parks, puppy problems etc?? Let me help you out. I haven't. I'd never complain about a post seeking advice. Bloody tempting at times to point out that the forum has a search function but I haven't done that either.

It can be dominance related but I'm less certain it's always this. My youngest Whippet tries this on my oldest poodle boy - little upstart.

What I cannot gather, other than some kind of call for group outrage, is the point of some of these threads AT ALL. Hence my (I thought polite but apparently uncaring and unwelcoming) suggestion that perhaps we've had enough of these theads IF they serve no purpose other than to call for gasps of outrage from members. It's like all the gasping in horror and outpourings of outrage that goes on with FB folk who insist on sharing shocking photos of abused animals. Yes, we all know it happens but you "sharing" a photo doesn't make you a warrior for animal welfare. What it does is distress people.

This is what I use for the same reasons. The ones that clip below the dogs jaw pull their heads around, I was concerned about this and the potential for it to hurt my rather bouncy dogs neck. I also found that the nosebands tended to ride up into his right eye when he pulled. That caused him a lot of discomfort. Because the infin8 is clipped at the back of the neck it puts downward pressure on the top of his nose rather than sideways pressure. As it doesn't ride up into his eye my dog is much more tolerant of it. I have also found that I can adjust it to suit his likely level of excitement. On a rather boring walk I loosen the noseband off a bit to give him some time getting used to minimal/no pressure and in a highly exciting environment (like at dog club) I tighten it so that I have more control. It is not as effective at reducing his strength but I have found it to be a good compromise. These collars can apply considerable pressure to the dog's upper neck because they force the dog's head to flex towards the neck if pressure is applied. People should shed the idea that any dog head collar works like a horse halter - they don't.

I don't think it's unfair, for a Purebreed Forum that provides a Rescue sub-forum, to consider the fact that there are others who can bring attention to some dogs in urgent need. Why are dogs advertised on Gumtree considered to be automatically "in urgent need" or requiring "saving"???

I think you still can. You just can't contribute to threads you haven't started. You can thank the breeder bashers for that. I think Troy was having issues with the forum script when it was updated or something because I'd asked about it. As it stands, I don't have any posting access but I'm cool with that. It does help me hone my googling skills when searching for the answer! :D You can always still ask in General. It would break up the Gumtree ads.

No, it's not what the Rescue sub forum is for. Because links to Gumtree ads are NOT allowed. And dogs on Gumtree are generally not classed as 'rescue.' As someone who runs a Rescue Group, I'd hate to see the MAIN rescue forum clogged up with Gumtree Ads. That's NOT where they need to go. They need to go somewhere else, in a sub-forum of that. Because, as strange as it may sound, even those who Rescue don't always want to know about Gumtree Ads. Maybe they don't need to go anywhere. I think we can all find Gumtree if we choose to look.

I think you still can. You just can't contribute to threads you haven't started. You can thank the breeder bashers for that.

I believe I made that point upfront in my first post. I wasn't talking about posts seeking to help dogs.... more the "lets all get outraged together" variety. It's tiresome.